HOW TO: Bleach service tee to sterilize water during tank fill

[John E Davies]

 

All parts are standard 3/4" PVC fittings except for the female and male garden hose adapters, which may be a little harder to locate. Ace Hardware had everything I needed. I used yellow CPVC cement because I didn't't have the regular kind, but it is fine for this application.

 

You can insert this inline with your fresh water hose after the filter, with the short arm facing up. With no water pressure in the hose (tee empty), unscrew the cap and pour in or inject the appropriate quantity of household bleach. Install upper cap and turn on the water.

 

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

 

[stan]

Why would you sanitize with bleach?  Maybe I am missing something but a better less corrosive option would be hydrogen peroxide use in wells.  hydroden peroxide oxidizes immediately with no cryogenic by products left behind.  

[John E Davies]

Bleach (chlorine) is a long time standard for sanitizing RV tanks and plumbing. If you don't like the idea, and are OK with paying five times as much, then by all means use peroxide. Or water purification tablets, if you can figure out a simple way to get them into the tank. You could dissolve some in a bucket and use the winterization port, but that is awkward at best, and finding the right pills for treating 30 gallons is problematic. Most Aquatabs are intended for backpackers, for a very small volume of water. You can get tablets for 1000 gallon tanks but I personally haven't seen any that are near the right dosage for an Ollie. Have you?

Bleach info: https://chlorine.americanchemistry.com/Chlorine/BleachFAQs/

I don't use the tee routinely, but if the water source is suspicious (like a non-residential well), and I have no alternative, then I use it. For city water it is not at all needed. But you DO need to shock your system, annually at least, with bleach, to make sure nothing nasty is growing in there..... and I don't drink anything straight out of the RV tank, it ALWAYS goes through a pitcher filter.

I hope that helps.

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by John E Davies

[Ray and Susan Huff]

Can you not use the onboard pump with the winterization intake port to sanitize the fresh tank?

[Overland]

That's the way most people do it.  Ideally, you'd run some chlorinated water through each, since whichever port you use will not sanitize the other.  

[John E Davies]

Yes, the winterization port is used for that; and for sanitizing the two “other“ fresh water ports you can use your antifreeze hand pump to inject a quart or so of bleach solution into those short lines. But the focus of this thread was really an easier way to sanitize what is entering through the normal water connection (tank fill) port when you are traveling, mostly. There are a bunch of How To Sanitize threads here and on other fiorums.

John Davies

Spokane Wa

[SeaDawg]

4 hours ago, stan said:

Why would you sanitize with bleach?  Maybe I am missing something but a better less corrosive option would be hydrogen peroxide use in wells.  hydroden peroxide oxidizes immediately with no cryogenic by products left behind.  

We use purogene instead of bleach. 

[Landrover]

I found this inline pressure washer filter system.  It works great a little bleach or peroxide in the container the ends are made for the garden hose. Bypass the water heater and let the water flow through the system. Let it sit rinse done.

[ScubaRx]

We've always just poured the bleach into the other end of an attached hose prior to attaching to the spigot. Turn on the water and it just washes right into the tank.

For sanitizing, NOT drinking, we use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of bleach for the 30+ gallon fresh tank and all the associated pipes. Just run each faucet until you can smell the chlorine. We usually let it sit overnight and then drain and rinse. Don't forget the outside wash station.

[Landrover]

1 minute ago, ScubaRx said:

We've always just poured the bleach into the other end of an attached hose prior to attaching to the spigot. Turn on the water and it just washes right into the tank.

For sanitizing, NOT drinking, we use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of bleach for the 30+ gallon fresh tank and all the associated pipes. Just run each faucet until you can smell the chlorine. We usually let it sit overnight and then drain and rinse. Don't forget the outside wash station.

 Great idea.👍🏼

[SeaDawg]

44 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

We've always just poured the bleach into the other end of an attached hose prior to attaching to the spigot. Turn on the water and it just washes right into the tank.

For sanitizing, NOT drinking, we use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of bleach for the 30+ gallon fresh tank and all the associated pipes. Just run each faucet until you can smell the chlorine. We usually let it sit overnight and then drain and rinse. Don't forget the outside wash station.

Yes, that's far too much bleach for drinking  water.

Just want to make sure people notice your caps. 

[Patriot]

58 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

We've always just poured the bleach into the other end of an attached hose prior to attaching to the spigot. Turn on the water and it just washes right into the tank.

For sanitizing, NOT drinking, we use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of bleach for the 30+ gallon fresh tank and all the associated pipes. Just run each faucet until you can smell the chlorine. We usually let it sit overnight and then drain and rinse. Don't forget the outside wash station.

Perfect, thank you.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Patriot